Month: March 2018

Please read Chapter 7 (Examples from English Literature) from Kumashiro’s Against Common Sense. You can access the book at this link (You’ll need to sign in with your uregina username and password) and then read pages 61-68. As you read, pay attention to what Kumashiro says about the way our lenses shape the way we read the world, and consider what lenses you might have.

Reading response (due before seminar):

You may begin your blog prompt before lecture, but you’ll need to answer part B after lecture.

Respond to the following: A. How has your upbringing/schooling shaped how you you “read the world?” What biases and lenses do you bring to the classroom? How might we unlearn / work against these biases?B. Which “single stories” were present in your own schooling? Whose truth mattered?

Teachers may influence structures of inequality. As teachers we need to keep our own personal beliefs at the door. We must continue to represent many different outlooks so we can be more diverse in any topic or taboo discussion that may need to be addressed in the classroom. We need to remember that all of our words and actions are remembered by our students. We are supposed to be positive role models so we can be clear examples and show the students that you may walk different paths of life.

Schools possess the power that makes or breaks an individual to find or lose success in their life. School is like a “ladder” a process in which you need to climb to the top with each grade being its own step. However the higher you climb the different the view becomes. A view that is created by the ones who created the ladder themselves “the government”. Once they get you to the step you need you are left their not knowing to keep climbing or start stepping down. As teachers we need to provide information to our students that will make them want to be at school and find ways in which they can be open to any new learning they may face so they are never stranded.

Wealthy schools in the United States pull out higher academic students then those in less wealthy schools. NO COMMENT!

2 Things I connected with

“Those with power are frequently least aware of—or least willing to acknowledge—its existence” a quote from Lisa Delpit’s article on Power and Pedagogy. Is this not true, at least for me it is. I still do not fully recognize my privileged of being a White Cisgendered individual in Canada and I hope one day I can be more aware of it so I can be a more understanding and diverse citizen who recognizes my own privileged so then I can hopefully see the loss of privileged in other individuals.

I found it sad to know that poorer schools who probably have bright students are impacted so much by money. This is why parents should be able to choose any school for their child and if the government wants to write the curriculum then why can’t more money go towards bettering our future adults.

1 Question I still have

Will students ever have a bigger say in their own education?
Or will only old people who wont be around in 40 years continue to write the lives our children will have in 40 years when they are gone.

It is interesting that First Nations peoples believed that children were a loan from their creator instead of their own. This is very similar to how many Christians feel about being children of god it is interesting that their beliefs sound very similar to my own.

Residential schools were around for more than 80 years since they started in 1923. I had known that they were stopped not that long ago but ran for 80 plus years, what a disgusting history!

I never realized that they used to use older students at higher standard levels as teachers. This would be interesting to see how that would ever work today since we would probably suffer. How can a student prepare those for the next grade when they haven’t completed the whole process themselves wouldn’t this cause a negative domino effect. This is interesting that it even worked!

2 Things I connected with

The Factory model is always something I was worried about when I decided I wanted to be a teacher. I always remembered how my schooling in Saskatchewan was and thought of the many barriers it set around me. It created many negative walls that I have had to take down. I want my students to be able to voice their own concerns and grow from what interests them. I do want my students to think outside the box and hope it is possible to be open when following the curriculum.

I wish this was not true but over 250 million people do not know how to read and write and as a teacher I believe their is many ways in which we can help! We can recycle our books when sending care packages to poorer communities. I also must keep in mind that reading and writing might not be resourceful in their cultures way of life and understanding. They may practice oral ways of learning.

1 question I still have

We are still lacking in our educational system, and how can I as a teacher provide ways around it.

In the article Nourishing The Learning spirit, it said “Scientists have just begun to recognize the potential of Indigenous knowledge. This was appauling! We want to know more about the world, YET, we do not even look into the cultures that go back thousands of years. It is sad we did not start recognizing their stories and looking into this knowledge sooner. With the loss of language already in the many indigenous cultures throughout the world the sooner we start listening the better!

Reconceptualists is a new word for me, a movement I have never been aware of. It is about challenging European and westernized views and supporting diversity in its fullness. I appreciate how it attends to the marginalized community and reveals the privileges that come with power. With this reveling process maybe our students will be more critical in the traditions they want to take part in.

The idea of the “good student/child” was definitely one of the common sense ideas that I was not aware of. For myself I always thought a good student was a student who was not late, finished assignments, completed assignments well, got good marks and was willing to learn. Yet there is no such thing as a good student. How can we compare one child to the idea of a “normal child” without a complete definition of normal how can a student be exceptional. My thoughts on a good student have changed from having “good” qualities to how well a student can improve!

2 Things I have connected with

Early childhood educators have been researching children’s awareness of gender racism and power. This is even true for students who attend University of Regina! The university gives all students the opportunity to push down the wall we had built up against these topics. Many of us believed until now we were not racist, sexist or privileged unless we expressed it out loud. We forgot about our thoughts, actions and choices we made and continue to make that negatively impact our identity as a diverse individual. Is this a trait that comes from learned behavior or it one that comes naturally? It is hard to study this since children around the globe younger and younger are being influenced by power how can we study it as a nature vs nurture topic when there is so many opportunities power can negatively impact our young.

The mission to teach indigenous culture to all people and not just those who are indigenous is the most important thing we can do as teachers. I connected this to my ECS 210 class where we talked about how it is easy for teachers to think they can skip over the topic when there is no indigenous people in the room. It is crucial we teach all students because it is the natural culture in this country, by teaching it more people will be understanding and take initiative to see the importance in it.

1 Question I still have

Our students will probably still be going home to parents with a different outlook on treaty ed, power and indigenous culture, how can we prepare our students to challenge their parents possible negative outlooks.

1. What is the purpose of teaching Treaty Ed (specifically) or First Nations, Metis, and Inuit (FNMI) Content and Perspectives (generally) where there are few or no First Nations, Metis, Inuit peoples?

The purpose of teaching this topic to students is to give value to the First Nations people’s history to remind our students that we share this land with a culture that has been hear before many of our own cultures. We study this because in order to not make the same mistakes in the future we need to hear the stories of what happened in the past. Many students and adults don’t understand the turmoil that the indigenous people went through and the domino effect they are still facing. White privledge is a topic that should be addressed at the school to the past student of mikes and many school where there isn’t a abundance of indigineous people that doesn’t mean there is no importance behind the lesson. Because we are all treaty people we all need to know our history and our place in it. This is the land we stand on and our duty as Canadians is to at most know what the indegenous people had to go through when we took not only there land but tried to diminish them as a culture! We will continue to do this until we understand the turmoil we brought since we still continue to be racist and still assimilate. As teachers we will all make mistakes teaching about a culture that’s not ours but we need to attempt to learn and teach it to our students.
2. What does it mean for your understanding of curriculum that “We are all treaty people”?

“So you use paquataskamik if you are fluent (in Cree) and if you are a young kid you use noscheemik … they confused, they’re not saying it properly. That’s too high of a word for them so they just use the simple word, noscheemik.”

When I first read this quote I instantly noticed the impact residential schools and colonization had on language. When language is lost, parts of culture are lost too. Every word in Canada’s Indigenous languages are important. Talking in their language were not just important for their everyday life it was crucial to speak and understand to shared their history through storytelling. The colonized world no longer fits with the words values. For example, the word hjkl could of meant something hilarious but since nobody can understand the language its humour has been lost.

It is sad indigenous peoples sense of language and home has been lost. The places and land in which many indigenous peoples of Canada’s ancestors would of called wonderful feels so downsized and lacking from the definitions behind the words used to express their connection with the land.

It is interesting to note that many young members of Indigenous communities are not being taught the importance of their own culture. The stories about the land are not being told and if they are many people do not understand them. With the lack of story telling the connection towards the land and nature is depleting.

With becoming a teacher I need to remember my place within the land I’m standing on. Treaty 4 and 6 Territory are both places I call home. I need to have a part in the community to understand my connection to it. We stand on this land for some importance that we are not fully aware of! We need to make sure we do more than bury are feet in the earth and instead walk great lengths to understand it. We have many stories and lessons to learn. The world has many cultures to learn from, but, with being in Canada why don’t we know more about our own people. It is time to hear the stories from Canadian soil, not the soil in England that many of us have never or will never walk on. It is funny how we know more about history on the other side of the world versus the true history that can be told but nobody wants to hear here.